Agaricus subrufescens – a common almond-smelling species

While there are a number of almond / marzipan smelling Agaricus in southern Australia, two separate collections from South Eastern Queensland and Adelaide turned out – via DNA extraction and sequencing – to be 0-1% from Agaricus subrufescens.

More recently a number of collections from NSW and QLD have turned out to also be subrufescens and the species seems quite a common one in Australia with fairly consistent appearance. These commonly stain gold on the cap surface or stem/stipe with age and smell mildly to potently of almonds.

This Agaricus is synonymous with Agaricus blazei which has been commercially cultivated for some time.

DISCLAIMER

The point of our blog is not to suggest that all of these species are reliably safe to pick in the wild and eat. This blog is more a collection of taxonomical information about species of interest - some of which do have a traditional heritage of being described as edible species but some that are just of interest generally - rather than the promoting or advocating of the consumption of wild mushrooms. IT IS UP TO YOU AND YOU ONLY TO GET THE PROPER IDENTIFICATION AND CONFIRMATION OF EDIBILITY.